A manner of wearing a goggle type of a head mounted display (HMD) has been widely used to experience virtual reality (VR). A user may control objects or user interface (UI) elements of VR using a gaze pointer or a reticle located on a central point of a virtual space.
When each of general VR devices renders a virtual space in a suitable manner according to motion of a head, a gaze pointer or a reticle may be located on a central point of the virtual space always in such a process.
In using an interface based on such a gaze pointer or a reticle, a manner where the user moves his or her head to locate the gaze pointer or the reticle on a specific object disposed on a virtual space and activate the object, maintains the gaze pointer or the reticle on the object during a constant time or more, and executes an event of the object (corresponding to a “click” operation of a mouse or a “touch” operation of a touch pad) may be proposed as one example.
In addition, if using meta or universal menus, for example, functions of ending a driving application, ending a VR system, capturing or recording a corresponding screen, and changing to another application, the user may use a separate physical button mounted on the outside of an HMD.
As such, the interface based on the gaze pointer or the reticle may have limited availability. In addition, since it is possible for the gaze pointer or the reticle to access only an object, located on a straight line which is identical to a head direction of the user, always, a head direction should be changed to select a specific object located on a virtual space or perform a specific function. In addition, it is impossible to separately access objects located in different depths.
As a result, since a three-dimensional (3D) pointer may fail to move together in x-, y-, and z-axes through the interface based on the gaze pointer or the reticle, and since only a selection or execution event for an object occurs, there may be significant limits to control a virtual space.
Meanwhile, to obtain 3D depth information in image processing, image information may be obtained using a device, such as a structured light, a stereo camera, an infra-red camera, or an infra-red laser, and an image may be three-dimensionally restored to obtain 3D location information in the image.
As another example, there is a method in which the user wears an input glove on his or her hand or attaches a 3D marker to part of his or her body to obtain 3D location information.
A method for constituting a system which has two different fields of view using an image obtained by an infra-red camera and an image obtained from a reflected view from a mirror in a device including a single camera and the mirror to obtain 3D location information is proposed as well as this method.
Meanwhile, there is a need for separate equipment to obtain 3D location information in such methods. Calculation processing for images may be complex, and loads may occur in the processing.
The patent application claims priority to international patent application No. PCT/KR2016/010273, on Sep. 12, 2016. The corresponding entire application is hereby incorporated by reference in the specification for all purposes.